After Gegen and his assistant Tova Veer discovered Hogan's remains and presented his findings, Odala was reluctant to provide ships to search for USS Voyager to prove Gegen's theory. While she told Gegen the ministry would consider his plans, she planned to have Gegen detained on the charge of heresy against the Doctrine. However, Gegen and Veer left to search for Voyager on their own before the ministry could detain them.

In order to force Gegen to return to the Voth city ship to face charges, Odala had Voyager transported inside the city ship and held the Voyager crew as hostages. Gegen returned with Chakotay, whom he transported from Voyager earlier, as a witness. Odala refused to listen to Gegen's theory and repeatedly asked him to repudiate his claims. Gegen at first resisted, until Odala sentenced him and the Voyager crew to life imprisonment in a detention colony. In exchange for freeing the Voyager crew, Odala had him publicly renounced his theory. Odala reassigned Gegen to less controversial work in metallurgical analysis and ordered Voyager to leave. (VOY: "Distant Origin")